As much as we all are using technology – evidenced by how much time we spend on our smartphones and other digital devices, sometimes, we seem hesitant to leverage that very technology to advance ourselves professionally. Here we recommend five things you can do to better position yourself to achieve your work-related goals in 2019.
With January 2019 already at an end, we tend to be well past wishing people we meet ‘Happy New Year’, but it is still an opportune time to put plans in motion for outcomes we are hoping to realise this year. On the career front, some of us might be eager to change jobs, or at the very least, be better situated professionally than we currently are. For those of us who are gainfully employed, we might hope to be in a better/higher position and/or making more money; and for those who are self-employed, we might wish for more consistent work in areas that you enjoy, and of course, bringing in a consistent (and lucrative!) income.
However, regardless of your work situation, it is crucial to leverage the tech tools that are available – and usually are free – which can help you to better position yourself to achieve the professional goals you have set for 2019.
1. Update your CV
Although you might never have thought about it before, your Curriculum Vitae (CV) should be considered a dynamic document. All too often, many of us just update it every few years, especially when we want to submit an important job application. However, we should be continually documenting our skills development and experience, in order to avoid the mad scramble that can occur when our CV is woefully out of date, and not only do we have to remember all what we have accomplished, but also organise it attractively and coherently.
2. Boost your social resume
In this current age, in which the workplace has become highly competitive, it has become increasingly important for us to stand out. Social media offers an excellent – and inexpensive – channel through which to do so. Hence a strategy that can be implemented this year, is to increase your presence on key platforms (such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and especially Linkedin) to showcase your experience, and to even to pitch yourself to companies.
3. Upgrade your skills
In light of the highly competitive workplace in which we operate, and to ensure that we continue to remain marketable, it is crucial that we invest in ourselves. Specifically, and in 2019, we ought to make developing or upgrading our skills a priority. As we noted in our article, 5 tech skills everyone should develop in 2019, coding, software development and data analytics skills are constantly in high demand. So even if you are not looking to make a major career change, broadening and deepening your skills and expertise could be highly beneficial, and lead to new and wonderful opportunities.
4. Upgrade your personal or business website
In addition to updating your CV, and if you have not yet done so, do also spend some time revisit your personal and/or your business’ website, if you have one. Once again, we tend to set up these platforms with much gusto and enthusiasm; but thereafter, they fall into abeyance, and are not updated in months, or even years.
These websites are part of your brand – be it for you, individually, or for your business. They may not be fancy, with the latest web design bells and whistles, but there should be a sense of care. They ought to appear well-conceptualised, with up to date information, that reflect the best of you and/or your business.
5. Examine at the data
Finally, with the world becoming even more data-centric, it is prudent for us to also try to leverage our own data in order to make more informed decisions. Depending on the data we decide to capture, we can become more strategic in, among other things, how we promote ourselves (and or businesses), the types of customers we attract, and even the volume of sales we generate. However, to get those results and from the outset, we would need to put the requisite systems in place, in order to collect the data we need. Thereafter, the raw data may need to be processed and analysed so that we can have succinct, yet useful, information, which we can then use.
Image credit: Marco Verch (flickr)
Indeed, DATA is king … well … queen, too.
All the flurry of online privacy laws is all because someone wants data about us. If that data is useful for them, then their ( and others’ ) data surely should be useful for us too. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander, too.